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"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible." -Vladimir Nobokov

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Letter #10

Dear October,

This morning I rolled out of
bed at 8:30am to meet with Dr. Bob, the writing center director. It was a
mandatory meeting for all first-years, as a way to talk about the writing
center and to check up on how we are doing in our first couple months as new
consultants. I was beckoned into his cocoon like office, which sort of glows
from the inside because of the yellow lamps positioned in different corners of
the room. All the walls are covered desk to ceiling in books, which sag on-top
of precarious looking shelves. Honestly, I still don’t feel super confident in
my skills as a consultant, but this meeting made me feel a lot better than
before. (When I told him this, he
looked at me and said, “Well, you have experience talking to people, don’t
you?” Me: “Yes.” Dr. Bob: “And you can read, can’t you?” Me: “Yes.” Dr. Bob:
“Then you already have the two biggest skills that you need in regards to
writing conferences.”) The other thing that this meeting reminded me of was
that in a week I will be heading to Chicago with the Writing Center for a
conference! I cannot wait to go on
a trip with these amazing people.

After lunch I checked my mail box to discover, not one, but
two pieces of mail, one being a lovely postcard from my mother (which I always
enjoy getting) and the second being my very first paycheck! *happy dance* As if my day wasn’t already
going well, I then received two fantabulous grades in my sociology class, which
was just awesome.

But you just
wouldn’t let up today, would you? During my shift in the writing center, while
I was casually minding my own business (which is difficult since the writing
center is practically built for eavesdropping), a senior came up to me and the
friend I was sitting with a casually asked, “Hey, did you know there’s a book
festival in Iowa City this Saturday?” We both shook our heads. “Do you want to
come?” Our answer was an emphatic YES.

Today was full of
little surprises, things turning out even better than expected, and new things
to look forward to. I’m so grateful that I can be in this place and have the
opportunity to explore the things that I love. Oh yeah. And the absolutely
perfect sunset was a nice touch, too.

BEAUTIFUL PHOTO. I'm so glad you had a great day like that! That really is a whole lot of wonderful stuff. Ahh your first paycheck!! I kind of get that feeling a bit more because I was so happy just getting a job at all. That is so exciting!! Also Dr. Bob seems cool, hehe. Love that parenthetical part. And a book festival!! It's so great that a senior coincidentally saw you guys and asked if you wanted to go! Tell how it went!

Thanks! I'm pretty happy with it myself :) I promise to give you a full update on the book festival tomorrow! Also the senior had invited me to things before, so it wasn't totally out of the blue, just slightly unexpected. Hope you're enjoying your new job!